Xbox’s co-creator, Seamus Blackley, has been known to be pretty blunt with his opinions in the past, especially in relation to the direction that Microsoft has taken its gaming division in recent years.
In a new interview with The Expansion Pass (thanks, Go Nintendo), Blackley touched on the idea that Microsoft is now “entirely AI-focused” and how a new game console would potentially fit within the company’s new mission. As such, he states that his interest in Project Helix, Xbox’s upcoming new hardware, is pretty low. Instead, he’s far more invested in Steam and whatever Nintendo has up its sleeve next – a hypothetical ‘Switch 3’, if you will.
“I don’t know what I’m excited about. I don’t know as a developer what I’m excited about and I don’t know as a gamer what I’m excited about. I am vastly more excited about Steam than about Helix. As a gamer, from a content standpoint, as I think everybody would be. Or, y’know, what’s Switch 3 going to be? That’s really interesting to me.”
When pushed to elaborate on why he’s specifically more excited about Steam and a ‘Switch 3’, Blackley responded with a pretty blunt statement:
“Are you high? Is there a gas leak over there? Well Switch 3, I just… Everything that comes out of Nintendo’s design department is at least really interesting and cool, even when it fails, right? Even Wii U was interesting and cool. I mean, it was a mess, but it was interesting and cool.”
We can’t argue with his points, even if it’s way, way too soon to even comprehend the possibility of a Switch 3. Like, let’s chill out a bit, hm?
Regardless, he is right. Nintendo’s ability to make interesting games and hardware is unmatched. Even the Switch 2, which is largely considered to be an iterative upgrade over the previous model, boasts some sweet magnetic Joy-Con controllers with built-in mouse compatibility. If you’d asked us a few years back what new feature we’d like to see in the Switch 2, I don’t think we would have even considered mouse support.
Good going, Nintendo.
